Machine Memory

[Pete Cyr]

Was "No ext memory" the exact message? There are two memory errors I am familiar with - see below

Memory can be overloaded by leaving too many files on the Laser LCD. There is a maximum of 100 files. See Section 3.4 on how to Delete All files in the LCD.

"No enough extend space." ERROR - at the end of each sweep the beam switches off but the head has to travel on as it decelerates to a stop, turn around and accelerate back up to speed before turning the beam on again. If you have set your program to run from 0, 0 or a point that does not allow this to happen, this overrun will go outside the allowable work area. You need to leave about 5mm all round when engraving to allow for this, depending on speed. So set your origin at 5, 5 and make sure your image is not bigger than 10 mm less than your work area. Try moving it off 0, 0 by about 5 mm's in both axis settings, hit origin then try again.

[Jeffrey Aley]

It was the 2nd message. I just deleted some files and ran it again. Same problem. I had the speed at 100 and the power at 30 30.

Read Pete's message carefully. This has nothing to do with memory, it has to do with physical room inside the machine for the head to accelerate in. That's why deleting files won't have any effect.

[Jeffrey Aley]

Thank you Jeffrey and Pete. I need some clarification and to provide some information. My knowledge is limited, but I'm learning slowly.

"If you have set your program to run from 0, 0 or a point that does not allow this to happen, this overrun will go outside the allowable work area. You need to leave about 5mm all round when engraving to allow for this, depending on speed. So set your origin at 5, 5 and make sure your image is not bigger than 10 mm less than your work area. Try moving it off 0, 0 by about 5 mm's in both axis settings, hit origin then try again."

"0, 0... 5, 5..." is Max Power/Min Power???

My first test etched the entire graphic, but it was backward (attached) The speed was 90. The power at 40 Max/40 Min.
The Axis Y was on "mirror" and Axis X was not on "mirror."

Ah, I see your confusion. When Pete talks about (0,0) he is referring to the X,Y coordinates (physical location on the bed of the laser). Let me make an analogy using automobiles.
When we scan, we tell the laser that we want the laser to be moving at 60mm/s (for example) when it starts lasering. That's like saying that I want a car to be moving at 60mph when it gets to a certain place. We know that if we want the car to start at 0 and reach 60mph at a certain place, we have to back up the car some distance to give it time to accelerate to 60mph. Of course that distance depends on if we have a Prius or a Porche

Similarly, the laser head has to slow down, stop, and reverse direction for the next scan. Just like our car, we need room to stop after we hit the brakes.

So if we tell the laser to be running at 60mm/s and our graphic is at the extreme left edge of the laser bed, then there's no room for the laser to accelerate up to 60mm/s before it starts lasering. So RDWorks will give us an error "not enough extend space". Ditto at the right edge. This means we cannot raster an image that is the full width of the bed - we have to leave a little margin.

And the margin we need depends on the speed we need to hit. Like our car, we don't need as much room to accelerate to 30mph as we do to accelerate to 100mph.

I hope that helps.

[Jeffrey Aley]

The second test was run twice with the same result being half the graphic with the "No extended memory" error stopping it.

By the way, you keep using the word "memory" where it doesn't exist. My understanding is that the error you're getting is "No enough extend SPACE". You might confuse yourself by this - the issue is in real, physical space, and not in a computer's memory.

This might sound like a nitpicky thing (okay, it IS a nitpicky thing ) but my experience is that we humans often become fixated on a particular theory, and that makes it very hard for us to accept data that points to a different theory.

[Jeffrey Aley]

So.... the bmp graphic needs to have a bigger margin? The one I used is tight (attached). If I give some leeway... (also attached) that will allow the laser to accelerate...?

No need to change the graphic itself. You just need to place it in a different part of the screen in RDWorks.

Too Close.JPG

Just Right.JPG

[Jeffrey Aley]

This was using the rotary table. It was in the middle (attached earlier)

Sorry, I should have noticed that. And I did know you were using the rotary, but forgot to actually think about the implications of that - my bad.

Where is the rotary located on the laser bed (physically)? At the left edge? At the right edge? Try moving the rotary to the middle, if possible.

I seem to recall there's some other reason why some folks get a "Not Enough Extend Space" error when using the rotary, but I can't recall what it is. Hopefully one of the other members can remember it and comment.

[Pete Cyr]

I recommend rotating everything 90deg and getting as close to the center of you table/bed as is practical. The error you received means the machine has computed the laser head will be too close to the defined edge of the laser bed when operating to engrave your design.

So either the definition of your bed is incorrect or you are too close to an edge of the bed.
While it maybe possible to slow the speed of your travel to compensate- I would not consider that practical - either correcting what the machine thinks the bed size is to what it actually is....or move away from the edge. You design does not look to big for your system so I don't believe the design is too big.

[Gene Uselman]

I have had very random 'NEES' errors [even on cut files] and I have gotten around it by moving the graphic around on the RDw screen and also by moving the laser head to a different part of the laser bed. I personally think it is related to memory as sometimes opening a new file will help, sometimes saving and reopening a file and sometimes saving the orig file and then deleting most of the graphics in a file, then save and reopen. I have asked Oz if it ever happens with LBurn but he doesn't seem to know what I am asking about, so apparently it does not. Which would be a RDw problem and not the controller?

[Willy Ivy]

Jeff, the x axis (east & west) does not matter nor does the placement of the rotary device in the laser for that matter.
The placement of your rotary is only important to keep it square with your gantry in order to keep your image square with your material. Your have sufficient movement here because your rotary is probably too large to start at the 0.0 anyway and I don't think you would be laser an image on the very rim of the material.
You do however need to rotate the rotary device from the 0.0 of the y axis (north & south) before you set the origin point. If you are only using say a 4 inch image in the y axis, then rotate a full inch away from 0.0. Now place your material in the rotary and set it up & try again.

Just another tip or two, use a pencil and a flexible ruler (like a sewers ruler) to measure and mark the placement of you image on the material being engraved. I normally put a + at my start point (center) on the material and one small line on all four sides where my image will be placed. Put the material in the rotary, set your start mark up (top left, center, whatever you use) with your laser pointer, turn the laser switch to off, hit start, let the laser download and start moving, hit stop, hit frame and look at your laser pointer in reference to your pencil marks. Your laser pointer should line up perfectly with your pencil marks if all is set up correctly. This can save you some money when you forget to rotate an image by 90 degrees or read a ruler wrong or whatever. Not that I have ever done that, well maybe once, or maybe more until I learned to check before I burn.
Hope this makes sense.